The Mercs of Phandalin

and the fight with the Crimson Champions

Having ventured back to Farspring after the fight with the bandits who murdered the revenant and his family in our last adventure, the party makes it to Farspring and talks with Giles the mayor about where they could go next for support to get Wave Echo Cave off the ground.

They hear of potentially supportive council members, Alex Boone and Marvin Sharp, who may hear the request of Farspring to help. Giles the mayor provides a letter of introduction to be shown in Steelgate to secure audience with members of the Council.

The party takes a boat given to them by the mayor, hires some deckhands, and floats down the river for six and a half days before reaching the port at the sprawling metropolis of Steelgate. After a brief run in with the port authority, who accepts their letter and grants passage to the city, the party gifts the boat to the senior deckhand Bernd instead of paying port fees.

Ealdis heads off to buy a dress, and the party secures lodging at the Hidden Jackal, under secrecy with the tavern keeper Drake. He informs them that the Duke keeps an estate in the silver quarter, and he may know the comings and goings of the council.

Calling on the Duke at his home, he seems sympathetic and offers to help the party out in exchange for agreeing to fight in the city's coliseum that night, which hasn't had a fight in three weeks. The party agrees and Kao Fei, Ealdis, and Samurai Santa all sign up to fight as part of a team melee against three of the mysterious Crimson Champions.

Samurai Santa, Kao Fei, and Ealdis are beaten mercilessly in the Coliseum, managing to fell only one of the Crimson Champions, Johann the Fearless, after covering him in thorns, filling him with arrows, and finally kicking him in the groin. Bercelli the Basher beats down both Samurai Santa and Kao Fei nearly single-handedly, while Henry (title?) easily catches up with and dispatches Ealdis, who, without her trusty feline companion, is no match for the brutality of a seasoned gladiator. The session ends with these three members of the party bloodied on the floor on the Coliseum, kept alive only by the magical periapts of vitality that they wear to sustain the sport.

Waking from our rough night in Phandalin after our return from Wave Echo Cave, the party discovered that Samurai Santa had spent the night in the town stockades, having stolen the display model of a bejeweled sword in a blacksmith's shop. He needed a full rest, beyond what the rest of the party had already received, so we let him sleep.

Fei attempted to make some poison from the mushrooms he found in Wave Echo Cave, to little success. Clearly rusty since he was last at the monastery, he'll have to practice some more before being able to create a pliable poison.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.